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28 July 2012

...and for this summer's adventure(!)...

Well, once again, I thought I was going nowhere this summer. Months ago I learned that Thorp Lookout would also be shut down due to federal budget cuts, just like Sheep Hill the year before. Had I actually been keeping up on making posts, you would all know this already. This, and a good pile of other things. Like how I've been running races. And worked for the WTA again back in June. And went to Mexico for a little while. And have been river rafting and camping with friends a good deal. Et cetera. But I digress.

Once again, I was looking at a summer in which I would be home with Devon the whole time, would take proper care of my garden, would go backpacking all August and September long. Until about a week or so ago, when I was invited to become a deckhand on the good ship Nerka, trolling for salmon in Southeast Alaska. A few quick maneuvers later, I'll be flying north on Monday morning for about a month.

I have spent a wee bit of time living on a fishing boat in SE AK before, though it was a seiner which had been retro-fit for kayak tours, and I was the chef/host/deckhand. I have a good steep learning and muscular growth curve ahead of me, but the dearly beloved Joel and Tele will be excellent teachers, I have no doubt.

So there you have it. I am in the midst of a flurry of preparations, so this is a short update. If you have any inclination, I would highly encourage you to visit Tele's blog, and let her beautiful writing tell you about being a liberal-as-hell Alaskan, fisheating vegetarian, tough as nails woman, in what is largely still considered a man's world. Here's one of my favorite posts, From the Galley: Conflicts of the Feminist Fisherman, though I recommend exploring about.

Oh my goodness. I love when I discover a lady out there writing whose thoughts I dig and to whom I am connected by multiple strands. We have at least 2 threads between us... Jodie B and the Alaska Salmon world... I've read "Hooked" since Sean Rodda, a friend of a friend, turned me on to it, and I helped run the blog for my friend Ross Trainor (Formerly of the F/V Nora H and now of the F/V Heather Ashton) s Sea to Summit Expedition to protect the Bristol Bay Fishery. (http://seatosummit.wordpress.com/) Small world. Gonna be followin you lady. ! thanks for visiting my blog.